Teaching Coding through Gaming: The New Classroom

The conventional classroom has over the past few years undergone lots of revolution. Another topical and stimulating direction is the use of game elements in learning, for example in teaching programming languages. Besides making learning a delight this approach also captures students in a way that is typically not achieved when using conventional approaches.
How Gaming Works in Education

Engagement through Play
Children love games. Children are engrossed for hours interacting with them, but they hardly notice that they are getting educated. When you introduce coding through gaming, you are therefore tapping into this natural curiosity. It is a fact that games offer students an active and engaging opportunity to try something out and make a mistake or failure and all these in an entertaining fashion.
Building Problem-Solving Skills
Gaming naturally fosters problem-solving. Handy-caps in most of the games entail the ability to triumph over odds, solve problems, and make decisions in a short span of time. These are the same skills that one applies when programming. For instance, when playing a game that involves analyzing a problem in order to solve it or constructing an object in a puzzle solving game, such skills as the ability to solve a problem in parts, which is a key coding skill, are learned.
Instant Feedback and Reward
Games are also instant and this is essential if we consider the necessity of feedback in the learning process. Immediately a student writes a line in a game and the line works or does not work, he or she knows the effect of his or her action. They continue learning so as to earn more points to make them win more sweets and this kind of reward system motivates them.
Popular Platforms for Teaching Coding Through Gaming

Minecraft: Education Edition
Minecraft has been around for quite some time now but Minecraft Education Edition moves it to another level. This version is intended to teach the students coding via mods and modifying the game environment. In SOS programming teachers may teach students how to program through a series of instructions or the students may be allowed to practice programming with a specific concept on their own.
Scratch
Scratch is a programming software for children in which one uses a block based language to write programs. By using this tool, the children are able to build games, characters, animations and even stories using the code blocks. Due to the simplicity of the features which can be applied by simply dragging and dropping, it is ideal for anyone who is just learning a programming language without compromising on aspects of looping and conditional statements among others.
Roblox
Another site that will enable the students to learn coding with an option to create their games is Roblox. For custom build-up of everything, the game employs the use of the Lua, a scripting language. Flexibility and differentiation are other advantages of Roblox – the game provides creativity and technical learning, so it is often used to teach coding.
The Impact of Gaming on Learning Outcomes

Increased Motivation
This will make the students stick to the topic in question as they enjoy what they are learning. This seems to be the essence of gaming, gaming makes coding less of a complex thing. It simplifies a concept, making it easy to understand and not intimidate anyone by looking difficult. They are thus able to remain keen and motivated to learn even with difficulties that may come along the process.
Improved Retention
There is substantial data that proves this aspect, pointing out the fact that students understand better when they are taught via games. Since games are mostly representational and involve students in handling the objects that represent their content, students are very much involved in the content they are handling. This practical approach enables them to remember the coding ideas that they get from the curriculum or online lessons.
Collaboration and Teamwork
All the educational games that I outlined above promote teamwork in one way or another. Students may team up to complete a puzzle, put together a structure or complete calculations, among other things. This teamwork is rather close to actual programming practices when multiple programmers work on significant projects together. While playing, students also understand not only the code and the principle of group work or team cooperation.
Challenges and Considerations

Screen Time Concerns
One of the issues that people hold regarding with use of games in the classroom is that they foster a tendency towards excessive use of TV screen time. It is crucial to integrate gaming with other modes of learning so that learners are not glued to screens for most of their time. This problem can be controlled if parents set appropriate boundaries and see to it that games are being utilized for that purpose.
Access to Technology
Some students do not have the appropriate technology for instance computers or game consoles to engage in game-based learning. Education institutions have the responsibility of guaranteeing that all children can access the information that is being delivered to them, and that is where we find ourselves when it comes to coding or computer assisted learning because institutions need to make sure that all the children they admit have access to a device or a way of thinking that would enable them to understand and appreciate coding or computer assisted learning.
Ensuring Educational Value
As we know, gaming can be used as a good learning aid in teaching coding, but teachers should consider the kind of games being used to enhance students’ learning. Games are not equal and therefore, teachers should only choose platforms that propose the intended goals.
The Possible Course of Teaching Code
It also means that as new technologies emerge new approaches to teaching code emerge as well. Loosely we can say that gaming is only the tip of the iceberg. Straight in the future the use of such approaches can be expected to increase, for example, in teaching difficult subjects with the help of ‘serious’ games or even the use of such as virtual reality. However, the core idea will remain the same: or in other words creating an effective environment that encourages students or makes learning enjoyable.
Education in the New Millennium
To be able to game has changed a way of thinking about education. It has proved that education need not be so boring and monotonous. By incorporating coding into the gaming system, we are in a way, preparing students for the future and at the same time making a game out of it.
Conclusion
Incorporating gaming in the learning of coding is a change in the process of learning among students. That is why using the natural inclusiveness that games make, we are able to introduce coding to more individuals. The benefits of this approach are clear: These inclusions provision motivation, enhance retention and allow for the attainment of effective collaboration skills. The strategy has its set of obstacles; but, given the benefits that can be achieved, it is definitely a noble course to follow. With that being the case, it is without a doubt that gaming will wholly be an important facet as we continue to advance the education system in the future.